kort@hounx.UUCP (B.KORT) (03/15/86)
What is the Name of This Puzzle?
Barry Kort
Copyright 1985
One of my favorite anecdotes is the following joke, taken from an old book,
known as The Prisoner's Joke Book. (Many of my readers may recognize the
joke, but I have added a new twist.)
A prisoner arrives in prison, is introduced to his cellmate, and
begins to become accustomed to his new surroundings. The first
day, his cellmate escorts him, explaining the daily routine.
Finally, they come to mealtime, and the two sit down in the
cafeteria mess hall.
Just about the time the new prisoner finishes his soup, he hears
another prisoner shout, "22!" There are gales of laughter all
around the room. A few minutes later, another prisoner calls out,
"36!" The prisoners fall down, rolling in the aisles.
"What's going on here?" asks the new prisoner, turning to his
smiling mentor.
"Oh, don't you know? We've been here so long, and we've been
telling the same old jokes so long, that we finally wrote them down
in a book and gave each joke a number. Now when someone wants to
tell a joke, he just mentions the number of the joke. Everybody
remembers the joke, and they laugh just as hard as if the joke were
told from start to finish."
"I see," replied the new prisoner. "It is a curious custom, but I
suppose it does save time."
After a few weeks, the new prisoner got used to the idea of telling
jokes by number, and he screwed up his courage to tell his first
joke before the lunchroom crowd.
"53!" he called out with all the vigor he could summon.
There was stone silence in the hall. Chagrinned, he turned to his
cellmate buddy to ask why no one laughed.
"Well," replied his friend, "I guess some people can tell a joke,
and some can't."
Now the above anecdote is, in fact, one of the jokes in The Prisoner's Joke
Book. See if you can discover the answer to the following questions:
What is the number of the above joke in The Prisoner's Joke Book?
What is the name of the prison?